All Shall Be Well

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Introduction To Julian Of Norwich

Julian of Norwich is recognized as one of England's most important mystics. 

Let's jump back in time to meet this remarkable woman.

 
“But all shall be well,
and all shall be well,
and all manner of thing
shall be well !”
— Julian of Norwich
 

A baby girl was born ln England in 1342. Because little was recorded for average folks during that time in history, we don't even know her given birth name.

Julian's name is taken from the Church of St. Julian in Norwich where she lived as an anchoress for most of her life.

Life In The 14th Century

Julian lived in England in the 14th century during the turbulent Middle Ages, a time fraught with plague, famine and war. 

  • In 1337, England and France started the Hundred Year's War for supremacy over Europe.

  • In 1347, the Black Death swept across all of Europe, including England, and wiped out nearly 40% to 50% of the entire population.

  • In 1399, Richard II became the new King of England.

 
 

A Book In English Written By A Woman

Many people write books today. They plop themselves down in front of a computer and start typing away. Books pop out with hardcovers and as paperbacks or, now-a-days, in a digital format. There is a plethora of books written in English. 

But, how would you go about writing a book in the 14th century? 

Julian of Norwich managed to do just that.

Her text is believed to be the earliest surviving book in the English language written by a woman. Known as Revelations of Divine Love, it's a combination of The Short Text and The Long Text and consists of 86 chapters and about 63,500 words.

During this time in English history, laywomen were usually not educated. They didn't read, much less write anything, and they certainly didn't write in the spoken language of the day. Written documents of the Church were predominatly in Latin.

Equally astonishing, it's possible that in the beginning, Julian taught herself to read and write in both Latin and English.

Life As An Anchoress

An anchorite, or anchoress (female), is "one who retires from the world."

A person withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic life. They would have a permanent enclosure in a cell attached to church. 

This goes beyond the tiny-house phenomena of today. These cells (called an anchorhold) were often no more than 12 to 15 ft square and once the anchorite entered the minuscule space, the only way they could leave would be upon their death. They were attended by a maid who would bring them food and dispose of their bodily waste by means of a chamber pot.

The anchoritic life became widespread during the early and high Middle Ages and a large number of them were in England.

In the post Locked up forever in the wall of a church, we read:

 
“By Julian’s day, the retirement of an anchoress into her cell had become a formal rite in the church. An anchorhold was attached to a church, it had no doors and the inhabitant was formally enclosed by the bishop.

The rite actually involved receiving the sacraments of the dying and reading of the Office of the Dead over her as she was bricked up in her cell.

Some anchoresses were enclosed with open graves in their cells, so that they might meditate upon their mortality. When they died, the windows to their cells were simply closed and sealed.”
 

Anchorites would spend their days in prayer, viewing the altar, hearing Mass and receiving the Eucharist through a small, shuttered window in their cell. They would also provide spiritual advice and counsel to visitors through the window.

Julian of Norwich became an anchoress around the age of 30, after the loss of her family and following a severe illness wherein she experienced spiritual visions.

Her writings created a lasting impression on Christian spirituality. Her mystic expression continues to touch people's lives, even 600 years later.

God Is Love And Love Is God

The prominent theme in Julian's writings was her experience that God is Love.

That she could write of a loving God was no small feat in this rough time of history. As a young child, Julian witnessed the death of numerous villagers and members of her natal family. Later, she would lose her own two children and her husband to the plague.

Even the Church tended to view God as a stern and implacable task master. God was easily displeased and only accessed through the intermediary person of a priest. God was viewed as being aloof as he sat on high peering down on us. 

To say God is Love, given her personal circumstances as well as the prevailing thought of her time is noteworthy. For Julian, God expressed in spirit as both our mother and father and she spoke of experiencing a deep and profound love, personally, without the need of an intermediary. She wrote of God's love in terms of joy and compassion.

 
“Would you know our Lord’s meaning in all this?
Learn it well.
Love was the meaning.
Who showed it you? Love.
What did God show you? Love.
Why did God show it to you? For love.
Hold fast to this and you shall learn and know more about love,
but you shall never learn anything except love from God.
So I was taught that love was our Lord’s meaning.
And I saw full surely that before ever God made us,
God loved us.”

For part of the time she resided in her cell, Julian had a cat as a companion and is often depicted in drawings with her feline friend.

In the Anglican and Lutheran churches, Julian's Feast Day is celebrated on May 8.

The Roman Catholic Church honors her on May 13.

And all of us can celebrate her life any day.

 

Throw Open Wide Your Window

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Nature Beckons

It's March. The sky is filled with grey pillows, weighing down into the tops of tall firs that stretch heavenwards to touch the clouds.

Throw Open Your Window

It's still o-dark-hundred. I throw open the window for fresh air into the bedroom, then jump back under the covers on the bed to move through the positions of TRT® hands-on of The Radiance Technique®.

It's my idea of an ideal "camping out" situation. The comfort of my own bed with heavy, warm blankets accompanied by the fresh air and sounds of nature.

 

The joy of listening to a Pileated Woodpecker drumming on the trees.
An owl, staying up late, chimes in with soft hooting.
It's Sunday – no construction guys to compete with unnatural noise.
Who needs a TV in times like these?

Outer And Inner Light

I close my eyes and move through TRT® hands-on positions, drinking in the light of spirit, drinking in the sounds of nature.

Cold air sneaks in the window and swirls above my covers, but I'm tucked in – safe and warm. 

What a grateful way to begin a morning. 

Pileated Woodpecker

Great Horned Owl

 

 

 

Calm Down

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There's a meme floating around that says how telling someone to calm down has never in the history of the planet actually helped anyone to calm down.

It's meant as a joke, but like most jokes, there's a kernel of truth to be found.

If you could just "be calm" – you'd probably already be calm, right? 

Isn't that true for most situations when someone tells you to "be" something different?

Be This, Be That

Be mindful. Be aware. Be thankful. We are constantly admonished to be a multitude of things, but it's difficult, if not impossible, to become a state-of-being on command.

Furthermore, once someone starts barking at you to be one thing or another, it's not uncommon to have the reaction, "Don't tell me what to do!"

So, what to do?

Do we just will ourselves to be something? That doesn't seem terribly effective either.

Perhaps we can support ourselves on the path of becoming if we take an action that leads us in the direction of what we desire.

To Be, Take An Action

For example, instead of saying "Calm down" or telling ourselves "Don't be upset" – how about if we say, "Breathe."

Focus on the breath. Slow it down. Take a long breath in through the nose, hold for just a second and then, slowly release it out of the mouth.

Just breathe. It's an action.

We often advise our medical patients to focus on their breathing when they are undergoing a procedure. We find that saying to them, "Don't be nervous," when faced with a fearful or painful procedure is not helpful. Furthermore, it dismisses their feelings of being nervous. Instead, we focus on the breath, in and out, to help get them through the procedure.

The action of focusing on the breath helps to decrease the grip of fear or pain.

Take An Action With TRT® 

There are many dimensions inside of us. We have the inherent, wonderful ability to move past one way of being into another state-of-being.

We don't have to let outer circumstances toss us about like choppy waves on the ocean, as if we were not in charge of our own being.

The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) accesses universal energy. When TRT® is applied to the dynamic energies of our being, it helps to bring balance to our thoughts and emotions. Use of TRT® promotes rebalancing of energies that are out of alignment that we're not even aware of. How liberating!

We don't have to pick apart every little thing, analyze it or talk about it – we can relax in the healing energy that is accessed by TRT®.

Moving in the direction of wholeness is found in the simplicity of TRT® hands-on – Radiant Touch®. You take an action, apply your hands-on (right in the moment or for extended times of meditation) and then, let the healing energy walk you home.

The next time someone tells you to "be something" – take a breath and apply your TRT® hands-on. Of even greater importance, when you tell yourself to be something... do the same thing.

The wholeness that is already within you is ready to shine. 

 

Happy New Year

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Welcome 2017

Time races across the centuries and another year ticks past. A year doesn't meander anymore, it rushes past like an out-of-control wildfire. 

Say hello to 2017. 

You Are The Burning Flame

Many would say 2016 was a wild year. Ups, downs and inside-out. Wins and losses. Strong polarities that pulled people apart and gathered others together. 

Don't let the events of the outer world dim your inner fire. Stand steady in your heart. 

You are the spiral. You are the burning flame within the flower of your expression.

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can keep their inner flame burning bright with use of TRT®. 

Stoke the fire within by daily use of TRT® hands-on. When it seems the darkest is when even more hands-on is called for.

Sometimes, in our most difficult moments, all we can do is close our eyes, breathe and do TRT® hands-on. With TRT®, we have a precise way to access universal energy and the fire within us is always expanded.

Keep Your Flame Burning Bright

 
“Your life spark fires from within your innermost temple
no one can reach there but you
it is your inner sacred sanctum…
you are your own master there
only you can reach and ignite your fire!”
— Osho
 

Happy New Year. Keep burning bright.

 

O Holy Night

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It's Christmas Eve

A hush falls across the land as we gather for Christmas Eve.

We finish our Christmas shopping and gather with family and friends. We light candles and offer prayers. Midnight mass is chanted in churches large and small.

We spiral into Christmas Eve on stars of light.

A Star In The East

“And for a moment, the sky stood still while a new star was born.”

Suspended in the firmament, a powerful star sparkled and beckoned. Wise men followed the light. It's possible that an alignment of the stars is what drew the astrologers as far back as... 

April 17, 6 BC when the Sun, Jupiter, the Moon and Saturn aligned in the constellation Aries while Venus and Mars were in neighboring constellations.

The star could have appeared up to two years before the wise men arrived in Jerusalem.

Grant Mathews, a Notre Dame astrophysicist, believes the wise men were "Zoroastrian astrologers who would have recognized the planetary alignment in Aires as a sign a powerful leader was born."

“In fact, it would have even meant that this leader was destined to die at an appointed time, which of course would have been significant for the Christ child, and may have been why they brought myrrh, which was an embalming fluid.

Saturn there (in that part of the sky) would have made whoever was born as a leader, a most powerful leader, because Saturn had the strength to do it, in their view.”
— Grant Mathews
 

Christmas Is In Our Hearts

Perhaps you spend Christmas with a large, noisy family or maybe your Christmas night is at home with a beloved pet. If you have studied The Radiance Technique® (TRT®), allow yourself some extra time for TRT® hands-on. 

Amidst all the gatherings and activities, the light burns bright and we can tap into that expanding light in our meditations. Hold yourself close to the light.

Remember that Christmas exists in our hearts.

Today we are all wise men when we follow the light in our own hearts.

 

Snow In Seattle

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When Snow Comes To Seattle

It's December and we expect wintery weather to arrive with a flurry of snow. We pull our collars tight and burrow into our scarves as we hurry home under grey, snow-laden skies. Our pantries are stocked with winter comfort foods. 

Seattle, however, doesn't get much snow. It's nestled on a hill next to a large, salty body of water. This makes for a temperate climate and that means we don't have long, deep winters or hot and humid summers.

So when a little snow comes our way, excitement jumps through everyone. The local newscasts follow it snowflake by snowflake. Schools prepare to close. Children bounce around, ready to build a snowman on their snow day.

Snow came at the beginning of December.

To The Store For Warm Clothes

With snow in the forecast, I scurried off to pick up warm accessories.

I had already purchased a waterproof rain coat that included a warm liner. The day before the predicted snow, I ran back to Eddie Bauer to complete the ensemble. I added a warm hat and gloves. Waterproof boots are next on my list.

As we go to bed, the first light snowfall begins.
“It was the first “measurable” snowfall to stick and accumulate in the lowlands of Western Washington and Seattle in nearly two years, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.”
— Q13 Fox news
 

The Snow Begins

The snow started at night. We went to bed wondering what we would see in the morning. Waking up at 6 am, it was still coming down in fat, sloppy snowflakes, but by 8 am, it had already tapered off. 

People were thrilled to have some snow to play in and others dreaded driving in it as they headed to work. Retirees breathed a sigh of relief that those days are behind them and blissfully enjoyed the snow knowing they could stay home for the day.

Trees looked festive for the holidays with the most natural of flocking, real snow. Low, grey skies softened the feel of the land.

“It was a delight to many Washingtonians. Earlier in the day, in Lewis and Thurston counties, adults and children ran out to play in snow and build snowmen and have snowball fights.”
— Q13 Fox news
 

Connecting To The Environment

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can connect to their feelings about the weather. Do you find difficulties with certain seasons? Perhaps you're anxious about having to drive to work in the snow. Using Front Position #3 can help to decrease anxiety.

Maybe you have favorite seasons? Using TRT® hands-on, you're able to explore your relationship with the world around you and connect at deeper levels.

Do you look forward to the snow? Or perhaps you're a snowbird, flying away as soon as it appears. 

After The Snowfall

Snow doesn't linger long in the Seattle lowlands. Temperatures rise and storm drains trickle with the sound of melting ice crystals. Rain washes the rest of it away.

While the snow disappears in the lowlands, the higher elevations build their snow pack. Local ski resorts relish the promise of a robust ski season. Snow bunnies dream of icy escapades that await.

Meanwhile, in Seattle, snowmen melt into the grass and we dream of snowflakes that may come again.

 

As We Gather For Our Feast

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Thanksgiving Preparation

Grocery shelves groan under the weight of extra produce that will grace our tables. Pumpkins and butternut squash are piled high. Extra displays are set up with traditional foods for the Thanksgiving table such as sweet potatoes and yams, bags of cranberries, green beans, and stuffing mix for the turkey.

We Remember Our Farmers

It's a holiday for feasting, a celebration of the abundance of the year's harvest. We come together to share our food and to give thanks.

With gratitude for our endless bounty, we also take a moment to remember and thank those who provide all this food for us.

Our farmers.

Paul Harvey, a radio broadcaster from a time when radio was king, delivered a broadcast in 1978 about farmers. It became known by the title, "So God Made A Farmer."

Harvey painted with his words the hard work and humble life of a farmer. A rising sun waits for no one and so, the farmer rises early each day to tend the animals and the fields, no matter what. It's a life that requires resiliency and strength. How many of us would have the fortitude to be a farmer?

Ram Trucks condensed the speech for a Super Bowl XLVII ad in 2013, adding rich photos to accompany the descriptive words.

God Made A Farmer (text)

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer.

"I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours." So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church. 

Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life doing what dad does." So God made a farmer.

–Paul Harvey

 

Expand Our Gratitude

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can expand their gratitude during the holiday season. Extra time with TRT® hands-on in Front Position #1 or #3 supports us to get in touch with the inter-connections of our lives.

When we purchase our food, we touch it with universal energy that is accessed with TRT®. We are able to expand the light within our food.

For students of The Second Degree of TRT®, there are layers upon layers of people, animals and crops that we can support with radiant energy. Whether we choose a vegetarian or an omnivore life style, we can direct energy without judgment.

Farmers Face Challenges

There are struggles for today's farmers on many levels. Concerns swirl around us such as animal treatment, genetic manipulation of seeds, loss of crop land, and getting food to the hungry, just to name a few. As we become more and more urbanized, there is concern as to who will be our next generation of farmers.

As a student of TRT®, you can pick what speaks to you personally and hold it in your heart with your TRT® hands-on. You can dedicate time to support it with radiant energy. You may not be a farmer, but you can support them with radiant energy.

We Say Thank You

We also remember the long chain of people who bring the farmers' food to us. Many hands touch the food before we buy it, like people who package it, the truckers and the store workers.

This Thanksgiving holiday, we bow our heads before the beautiful food on our tables and we say thank you to everyone who helped bring it to us.

 

Photos of the farmers are all
by Paul Mobley from an article in The Morning News.